The Enforcer (Untamed Hearts Book 3) (29 page)

“Holy shit, why would anyone do that?” Nova made it sound like that was the worst possible combination he could think of. “Get him out!” Nova pointed at the door when the bouncers came up. “You let Carina in! The don would lose his fucking mind!”

“We didn’t let her in!”

“Well, she’s in here!” Nova threw up his hands in disbelief. “And this puttana tricked Tino into selling him E to give her. I can’t even fucking conceptualize what Carina is gonna be like on E. Now thanks to you motherfuckers, I get to find out!”

“You sell drugs?” Brianna asked him.

“I—” Tino put his gun back, because the bouncers grabbed Dominic real fast once the don was mentioned. “Yeah, sometimes. I sell them sometimes.”

“For the Borgata?” she asked in disbelief. “Do you like selling it?”

“This situation is awesome on so many levels.” Nova looked a little manic. “We have to leave. Right now.” Then he leaned down and got in Carina’s face. “Thanks for ruining my buzz, princess! This was one of my last weekends!”

“You ruined my buzz!” Carina shouted back at him. “I can’t do anything!” She pointed to her forehead. “This is my life! I’m gonna die a virgin because my family is psychotic, and everyone knows it!”

“Oh my God, is she fucking for real.” Nova grabbed Bobby’s arm and shoved him at her. “Here you go. There’s approved dick for you.” He turned around and walked toward the door shirtless. “I can’t deal with her princess problems.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Brianna knew it wasn’t a great plan to lie to their parents and sneak out. Her mother thought she was at Carina’s, and Carina’s mother thought she was over at Brianna’s. Considering both their mothers liked their wine a lot, especially after dinner, they knew it was a foolproof story, and there wasn’t going to be any unfortunate checking up.

Still, sneaking out to Harlem, a really scary part of Harlem, with Dominic Brambino, who was always a raging asshole, was bad news.

But getting into a rave wasn’t easy.

The good raves were way underground, and Dominic was the only person Carina knew who had the address. Plus, he was Carina’s cousin. What could happen? They’d dance for a few hours and then head back before they got caught. It seemed like a good idea the way Carina explained it.

Note to self: anything Carina thinks is a good idea is probably an epic train wreck.

Now she was stuck sitting on the subway between Tino and Nova Moretti. Most of the girls in her school wouldn’t see a problem with that scenario. It wasn’t a bad place to be.

Except Nova was pretty preoccupied with his girlfriends.

Girlfriends.

As in more than one.

One girl was black, the other was Hispanic, and both of them had that very pretty, very Manhattan look to them, with long, straight hair and dark eye makeup. They smelled like expensive perfume and seemed to sparkle under the flickering lights in the subway, because everything they had on twinkled and glittered. Their coloring was different, but for some reason they appeared to match when they were making out like they were.

On the train.

And even if there was no one else in their car, Brianna was here.

Tino was here.

Carina was here.

Carina’s new friend, who was one of the smallest teenage boys she’d ever met, was still here.

Brianna glanced away from the two girls making out and stared at Tino to see if he was watching, but he wasn’t. He was looking at Carina sitting next to him. Carina was staring out the window with wide eyes, like she was seeing something the rest of them weren’t.

“Are you okay?” Tino asked his sister. “You look like you’re freaking out.”

“I can feel the lights. Like they touch my soul. This is
very
groovy.” Carina lifted her eyebrows like she was agreeing with herself. “I like it so much.”

“Of course you do.” Tino glanced back to Nova, rolled his eyes, and just slumped down in his chair. “I’m the only mutant in the family it doesn’t work on. Figures.”

“I don’t think it’s working on me either,” Brianna whispered as she went back to staring at Nova and his girlfriends, because he was doing a very good job at ignoring the rest of them.

Nova leaned into the girl next to him. She had a soft Caribbean accent and beautifully tanned skin. It made the gold glitter she’d sprayed on her arms look like pixie dust. Nova’s hand was on her lower back. His face was in the curve of her neck. He whispered something in French, making her wilt back into him before he dragged his tongue up to her ear.

“I’m sorry,” Tino apologized for his brother. “He’s…really high.”

“Yeah,” Brianna agreed, studying the three of them with a sense of awe, because the girls were still kissing. She honestly didn’t think she would ever be sitting on the train watching something like this, especially with Nova Moretti somehow tangled up in between them like it was exactly where he was supposed to be. “I guess he is.”

“The roll makes touching feel good.” Tino played with the zipper on his jacket, because he had to give his T-shirt to his brother once he walked back and found it at the warehouse. Nova’s had disappeared somewhere. “It makes your skin extra sensitive.”

“Have you done it before?” she asked curiously. “Ecstasy.”

Tino shook his head. “No, tonight was the first time I took it.”

“I saw your…friends.” A flush rose up on her cheeks. “The girls who had your jacket and shirt. They’re pretty.
Very
pretty.” She looked back to Nova, watching him with these two beautiful women, feeling extremely plain as she whispered, “Exotic. You probably like exotic.”

Tino didn’t respond, because Carina had found the approved boyfriend next to her and was playing with his hair that was spiked high with gel, but Tino pulled her back.

“You said touching makes it better,” Carina argued.

Tino snorted. “That doesn’t mean you’re supposed to do it.”

“I’ve done it with women,” the guy next to her said. “I can do it with women easy.” His gaze was on Carina’s tits, because the hormone fairy had visited Carina with a vengeance, and most boys with a pulse noticed. “Sometimes they like to watch. Sometimes they like to play.”

“Wrong crowd, Bobby,” Tino snapped at him. “Way wrong crowd.”

“What?” Bobby lifted his head and looked at Tino. “Is she your girl?”

He sounded strangely hopeful about it, which was odd, considering his fascination with Carina’s chest.

“She’s my sister.” Tino pointed to Carina’s forehead. The letters were dim because the ink was designed to show up under a black light, but it was still there. “So I wouldn’t look too hard unless you want my father to murder you.”

Carina would normally be really pissed off about that.

This time she went back to playing with Bobby’s hair, patting it and admiring the way it stayed standing.

Bobby seemed more than happy to let her, despite the murder threat that should probably be taken seriously considering the source. Tino appeared to give up on both of them with another roll of his eyes as he turned back to Brianna and asked, “What were you saying?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

Brianna couldn’t stop watching the way Nova looked with those girls. He had moved over a seat and pulled the Hispanic girl onto his lap. Unlike her friend, she had light skin and freckles over her nose. Nova spoke to her in Spanish, as if all the languages in his brain were sort of just out there, jumbled somehow, but it didn’t seem to matter to them. Brianna got the impression this wasn’t their first time together like this. They all looked incredibly comfortable as Nova tossed his head against the back of his chair. His hand was in her hair, and there was something about the look on his face as she kissed Nova’s neck that made Brianna feel beyond hot.

Brianna slid a hand to her chest, knowing she got all blotchy when she blushed. She looked to see if she was a spotted freak, and noticed the letters on her chest. She traced the
M
by the curve of her breast, remembering the way Tino looked when he wrote it there, shirtless, angry, and extremely territorial as he told everyone she was private property. The rush of pleasure that one memory created was crazy, wiping out that sickening sensation of jealousy that had been nagging at her since she’d seen those beautiful girls Tino had taken his shirt off for them at the warehouse. She looked back to Nova when he leaned over and kissed his Caribbean girlfriend like he needed the connection to keep breathing. The flicker of light looked so pretty on their skin, and it just made Brianna feel hot.

So hot.

Sweating.

Thank God she wore extra deodorant.

She shifted in her seat, still watching, still caressing the iridescent letters on her chest. She was sixteen, but she hadn’t kissed a boy. Not really. Not like that, with tongues touching where she could actually
see it
happen. She closed her eyes for one moment, trying to imagine Tino’s tongue against hers, and she slid her hand down to trace the lace of her bra, pretending it was his fingers against her skin.

“
Porca puttana
,” Tino whispered next to her.

She opened her eyes and noticed Tino’s gaze on her chest, following her hand like it was really interesting. Maybe it was actually hot on the train, because she could see the sweat on Tino’s forehead now. She was oddly fascinated with the way he looked under the flicker of lights. The beads of sweat on his forehead made him extra sexy and masculine, like the way he looked after he’d been dancing, almost too beautiful to be real. Tanned skin. Dark eyes. The line of his collarbone showing under his zipped-up jacket, because he wasn’t wearing a shirt under there.

Then one drop of sweat ran down from Tino’s temple to the curve of his neck, and it was Nova’s fault, because she had been watching them do it, with tongues brushing and fingers touching and hips moving. It sort of crossed the wires in her brain.

She leaned over and licked at the line of Tino’s throat like that girl on Nova’s lap was doing to him. Tasting the sweat. Feeling his skin against her tongue, and it felt really good.

It tasted
really
good.

Except Tino clearly wasn’t expecting it, and he sucked in one hard breath in response. His entire body stiffened, tense, powerful, strong, making Brianna want to touch him everywhere.

She jerked back instead.

Her face was on fire from the embarrassment.

She’d just
licked
Tino.

And she wanted to do it again.

“Madonn’.” Tino shifted in his seat like she did. Then he looked from Carina, who was still playing with Bobby’s hair, to Nova, who was still putting very dirty thoughts in Brianna’s head. “This is bad.”

“Is this what you wanted to do with those girls?” she asked, back to watching Nova, because really, how could she not?

In the light, if she squinted, she could imagine it was Tino.

Both brothers had the same short, inky hair. The same dark gaze. The same strong, muscular builds, even if Nova was a bit thicker. He would never be as agile as Tino, but it wasn’t that hard to imagine Nova had Tino’s more sensual bedroom eyes and fuller lips, looking less angry and more like one of those beautiful, cut men in the magazines.

Tino was better looking than Nova.

At least Brianna thought he was. Others would disagree, but Nova had never been her type. He looked like Carina. Like their father.

Tino looked like someone else.

A beautiful someone else, with soulful eyes that made her feel like Tino could see right through her. She absolutely did not want Tino to do what Nova was doing right now with those pretty, exotic girls he’d left back at the warehouse.

But she still needed to know.

“Is that why you took it?” she pressed. “You wanted to do this? With them?” Then, because she felt so hot and the lights in the subway car were flickering and distracting her and the sweat was making her hair stick to the back of her neck, she added, “Not me.”

“I wanna do it with you.” Tino’s gaze had fallen back to her hand on her chest, and the letters emblazoned there by him, marking her private property. “I think about it all the time.
Every time.
I pretend it’s you. Makes it easier. Nicer. Makes me play better.”

She frowned at him. “What?”

“Wrong crowd.” He said it like he was reminding himself. “Way wrong crowd.”

The train pulled to a stop, and Tino shook his head. The he reached down and grabbed her hand, his thick fingers intertwining with her smaller ones. It wasn’t an inappropriate touch, but the way he stared at her hand, as if shocked at how good it felt in his, made Brianna think very inappropriate things.

That was most definitely Nova’s fault.

Brianna was pretty sure Tino’s brother just ruined her forever.

Tino pulled her out of the seat, and she followed, breathless, hot, sweaty, knowing she was drugged and not caring as much as she should.

They were on the platform before Tino stopped and pulled his backpack higher on his shoulder. Then he turned around and shouted, “
Moretti! Andiamo!
”

Carina and Nova jerked on instinct, because it was clear neither of them noticed the train had stopped. That was all it took to get everyone off the train, because when Morettis moved, others followed.

Brianna stared down at her hand in Tino’s, realizing she was the exact same, following him God knew where. She looked at the sign, seeing they were still in Harlem.

“Where are we going?”

“Our old apartment. We need to land somewhere. Fast.”

“Why?”

Tino just stood there, holding her hand, looking at the fluorescent lights hanging overhead, and whispered, “’Cause I’m rolling my ass off.”

* * * *

Okay, so the apartment was not in the greatest part of town.

It wasn’t like the rave location, where Brianna thought she could get shot at any moment, but she wouldn’t exactly call it
safe
either. The building was old—a brown-bricked walk-up from days gone past. Brianna found herself imagining what it was like seventy years ago, when this area was still Italian Harlem and organized crime blended into every corner of it, behind the colorful threads of first- and second-generation Italians who had packed into these buildings and banded together as a community to survive.